Incredible Saratoga meet ends with tribute to Tom Durkin
It is nearly impossible to believe the 2014 midsummer meet in Saratoga Springs has come and gone. It seems like just a few weeks ago that we were previewing the turf stakes schedule and anticipating the final 40 days of Tom Durkin’s announcing career. Now we can only reminisce about the days that made up one of the more special meetings in recent memory.
I could write for days on my experiences as well as the racing that took place this summer at Saratoga, but will condense it into two short pieces and then look to the fall on “First Time Turf.” The first of the pieces will focus on the most unforgettable part of this meeting and the second on the plethora of turf races and stars that the premier meet brought us once again in 2014.
While the racing was as spectacular as ever this summer at Saratoga Race Course, I would be remiss to not focus on what took this specific forty days of racing to “another level.” It was roughly 25 years ago that I was fortunate enough to dive head first into this wonderful game. Before 1990, my father, a casual racing fan, took me to Garden State Park once or twice a year, but it was not until the oldest of our crew could drive the twenty miles to Cherry Hill, NJ that I was able to make horse racing into a huge part of my life.
Much of this passion outside of Friday or Saturday at GSP came when my good friend and colleague Jason Perry (@jmanmetsfan) passed on his collection of Breeders' Cup VHS tapes to me at the age of 16. These recordings would be my first taste of the national racing scene outside of an annual tradition of watching the Kentucky Derby. Dave Johnson did an amazing job in those “Run for the Roses,” but the race calls of the Breeders’ Cup events were something beyond special. They were nearly perfect each and every time, and offered such unforced emotion and love for horse racing.
Tom Durkin was the man calling the Breeders' Cup races, and boy could he call a race. Between his ability to call an impeccable race from start to finish, and the rhythmic flow in which he did so, it was a thing of beauty. Add to that a knack of knowing when, and when not to, induce humor into his calls, and you had yourself a near perfect caller. Durkin would be the voice of the Breeders' Cup from its inception in 1984 until he turned the reins over to Trevor Denman in 2006. In 1990, Durkin was hired to call the races at the New York Racing Association and of course made much of his fame as the voice of the Triple Crown once NBC took over coverage in 2001. His resume needs no “fluffing.” To the big day horse fan, Durkin became the one voice they associated with thoroughbred racing. To NYRA fanatics watching hundreds of replays a week as well as every live race like myself, he became much more.
Like many, I had a tremendous appreciation for Durkin’s work immediately. I will never forget the shock in his voice when Dayjur jumped his shadow in the final strides of the 1990 Breeders Cup Sprint or him declaring “Here indeed is a superstar!” when Arazi made his breathtaking sweep to the front in the 1991 Breeders Cup Juvenile. His call of “Tiznow wins it for America!” at the finish of the 2001 Breeders Cup Classic brings chills to me each and every time and of course his personal favorite calling Cigar’s victory in the 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic. Despite my love for Durkin’s race calls I had no idea his voice would soon be more common to me than anyone other than my parents. The average races were done without missing a beat and then there were the classics.
Simply put, I have heard an extreme amount of Tom Durkin throughout the last quarter century of my life, and how fortunate I have been. Sure, there were times I took what Durkin did for granted when trying to find a horse that had a poor trip or one that might be over bet in a few weeks. Then, out of nowhere he would find a way to make me laugh for several minutes or electrify me with his obvious love for “The Sport of Kings.” He constantly reminded me he was the greatest ever.
This Saratoga meet marked the final days of Durkin’s race calling career. The New York Racing Association has certainly missed golden opportunities in years past to treasure moments of the past, but this time they came through big. The final two days of the 2014 Saratoga meeting were dedicated to celebrating the career of Durkin. Included was live footage in the booth of his final call on August 31st of the Grade I Spinaway Stakes followed by a very nice retirement ceremony led by NYRA President and CEO Chris Kay. Durkin was given a bottle of Italian wine, a key to the city of Saratoga and a trip to Italy amongst other items as he thanked the horseplayer near and far for what he was able to achieve in life. The next day, Durkin would call no races, but the day was still his as he signed countless autographs and shook thousands of hands.
There is no horse fan I know that does not adore what Tom Durkin has done for the game of horse racing.
Whether it was his call of a $25,000 claimer on Thursday at 3PM or the Kentucky Derby, Tom Durkin gave the sport of horse racing all he had. There will never be another like Tom Durkin.